Alphabet Inc. $GOOG Shares Sold by Cetera Trust Company N.A

Cetera Trust Company N.A lessened its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 8,519 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 200 shares during the quarter. Cetera Trust Company N.A’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,511,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of GOOG. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 580,897.4% during the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 135,087,705 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $23,963,208,000 after acquiring an additional 135,064,454 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the first quarter valued at about $2,622,943,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 411,570,922 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $64,299,725,000 after purchasing an additional 9,687,855 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 9.9% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 102,232,997 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $15,971,861,000 after purchasing an additional 9,243,959 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strs Ohio acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth approximately $369,713,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total value of $4,408,034.72. Following the sale, the insider owned 42,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,635,348.70. This represents a 29.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total value of $680,610.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 17,293 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,236,785. This trade represents a 13.84% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 222,396 shares of company stock valued at $54,105,275 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on GOOG. HSBC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $335.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Alphabet from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Rosenblatt Securities set a $279.00 target price on Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $340.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $324.81.

Alphabet Trading Down 2.0%

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $279.70 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.38 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.66 and a fifty-two week high of $291.93. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $251.81 and a 200-day simple moving average of $205.14.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 36.08%. The business had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.90 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.12 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.28%.

Alphabet Profile

Alphabet Inc offers various products and platforms in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia-Pacific, Canada, and Latin America. It operates through Google Services, Google Cloud, and Other Bets segments. The Google Services segment provides products and services, including ads, Android, Chrome, devices, Gmail, Google Drive, Google Maps, Google Photos, Google Play, Search, and YouTube.